Floor One, Floor Two
by Hermia S
Summary: ME kink meme fill: Jack's comm unit gets frazzled, so Shepard and Thane have a little fun.


**A/N:** This is my apology for my lack of updates for Kismet. I'm so sorry, guys! I hit a rough patch with my ME2 muse. Big time. But I'm working on overcoming it (hopefully) sometime in the near future. Until then, however! I give you... voice!kink Thane.

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The good thing about knowing the schematics and organization of a merc base was proper planning. Given enough time and knowledge about what's going on inside the building, you could be in and out with a split team in no time. Two could take one level, while the other got what they needed and got out. Still, there was a blaring con to the whole situation. She was alone.

Out on some poorly named planet in some system she'd crossed or heard about once or twice, Shepard and her squad were fighting their way through a relatively small mercenary base. They were facing a paltry number considering what they were used to; the mercs were clumsy and not properly trained. Clearly the Blue Suns didn't realize the importance of the information they were harboring.

Pressing her back against the nearest crate, Shepard popped the heat sink out of her rifle. The element of surprise was wearing off, but she'd heard one of the men shouting over their comm channel that the base was being attacked by "Commander Shepard. Yeah, asshole, _that_ Commander Shep --"

In her ear, she could hear the sound of Jack's threatening grunts and hollers just as clearly as she could hear Thane's even breathing and murmured prayers.

Thrusting another heat sink into her gun, Shepard whirled around and narrowed an eye, mowing down the approaching cluster of mercs no problem. Her kinetic shields gleamed blue for no longer than a moment. A few shots taken, not too bad. Not too good for those mercs, though.

She raised a hand to her ear, her rifle dropping to her side. "What's the sitrep, you two?"

"They're just funneling right in, Shepard!" Jack's boisterous tone spoke volumes of the excitement building within her. No doubt she was tossing them this way and that between blowing their helmets clean off their shoulders with that shotgun of hers. "We've got this down."

"Indeed," Thane replied, his soothing tone warming her ears. "They are numerous, but they are poorly trained."

Shepard moved forward, eyes leveled with the glowing orange access pad that separated her from her destination point - the main laboratory. What genius left her to do the hacking? She was a soldier, through and through. These little numbers and buttons confused the hell out of her. Just before she'd bent at the knees to begin the trying task, her ears were filled with shouting again.

"There's somethi -- with my -- nit."

Grimacing, Shepard straightened herself back up again, focusing all her attention on the crackling, fizzing, popping sounds.

"Words twice, Jack; you're breaking up." _Great,_ her thoughts taunted her, _Just great. Communications are going to bleep out, and we're gonna get screwed on this backwater planet. A sure thing, my ass._

Before the biotic was able to respond, however, the crackling went silent, and the only thing she heard was Thane's breathing. Without a visual, it would be difficult to keep a constant, if figurative, eye on both of them. She would have to trust Thane to keep her tuned in to what was going on. And she did. Fully.

"Looks like it's just me and you, Sere Krios."

As his gunfire died down, she could hear him chuckle.

"It appears so, yes."

Her fingers trailed along the access pad, eyes squinted and tongue jutting out between grinding rows of teeth. She hated hacking, but the good old days when she could just shout for Kaidan or Tali to handle it were long gone. Better was expected of her now that the Illusive Man had implanted her with who knows how many various "upgrades." After a few moments, she gave a quiet "a-ha" and watched as the door hissed open before her.

Taking a step into the lab, Shepard gave the large, well-lit room a once over. It was littered neatly with computers, each coupling matched with an examination table or, in some cases, another, empty desk.

"So," Shepard began, making her way deeper into the room as she continued to scan over her surroundings. Her voice deepened as her hand trailed over one of the desks, silently marveling at how neat everything looked. "What are you wearing?"

She could almost _hear_ Thane's lips twitch in a smirk.

"You've already forgotten?" he asked, amusement curling around each and every word despite his situation, "The stress of the mission must be effecting your memory."

Laughing, Shepard slid down onto one of the desk chairs, only turning half of her attention toward the terminal before her. She'd done this so many times it was like clockwork. Gather the information with a few deft clicks, put it onto an OSD, get the hell out. She could've accomplished this part of the mission in her sleep, which made the fact that her attention was elsewhere for the time being completely okay.

"Hmm, good point," she drawled. It was clear that she still wasn't completely serious about her teasing. "Well, maybe what's beneath all that leather is what I'm asking about. Y'see…" Leaning forward in the chair, Shepard rested an elbow on the desk and propped her chin on it. "It's a chilly planet. I had to double up. Regulation underwear just wasn't enough."

Jack shouted something in the background, and Thane pulled out of cover for long enough to bury a bullet right in the center of a merc's helmet. "Oh?" he asked when he settled back against the crate. "Thermal underwear does not seem so enticing."

Shepard gave a quiet scoff. When she spoke, there was a harder edge to her teasing, but that quickly dissipated. "Who said anything about thermals? It's not _that_ damn cold." She look a breath and released it in a quiet sigh, fingers splaying on the desk as she rocked herself back; her eyes were hardly focused on the terminal's screen. "I'm talking about _lace_." She punctuated the word with a lilt. "_Purple_ lace."

She caught the sound of his breath hitching over the communications channel.

_"I love this color on you, siha," Thane whispered against the hem of her panties, lips dragging over the violet fabric. His fingers moved along the very bottom of her stomach, so graceful and tempting it was almost painful. Her eyes were on him, palm of her hand settled in the crook of his neck, urging him into motion without so much as a word or movement of her own._

_"Wear this color more often. It suits you."_

"I believe you're toying with me, siha," he murmured, passing his tongue over his bottom lip as he pulled away from cover to move farther away from Jack. In order to get a better vantage point, he'd confess if she asked. As dropped to his knee and poised his sniper rifle atop the crate, he lowered his voice. "But if this is a game, I will play."

Shepard's smile spread so wide it almost hurt. "It's actually pretty warm in here," she said, tapping her index on her chin. This was her one, true kink. Otherwise, she was fairly vanilla when it came to sex. But after her brief relationship with the former detective Chellick, after hearing his voice through the terminal, deep and filled with flange, "phone sex" grew on her, and in a big way. "After all that jumping and running and shooting, things are getting pretty sweaty under all this armor." She paused, "God, it's not just warm. It's _hot._"

Thane's pulse picked up. He could feel it gaining speed in his chest, and it wasn't from the thrill of the fight, either. He and Jack were running out of mercs to kill. Soon enough, they'd be back on the shuttle, and it'd be an _incredibly_ awkward ride if Shepard kept this up. However, he could not deny her, no matter how much he wanted to.

"So, you gonna tell me what's hiding under all that leather, Thane?"

Her honey-sweet tone belied the remaining purr in her voice she so desperately tried to leave behind. She knew what he wore beneath his suit. She'd disrobed him many times before, and nothing had changed. The thought sent images flooding through his mind.

_Her hips dig into mine. 'Come on,' she taunts; smiling, laughing. 'Let's see what you're hiding under there.' Hands ghost along leather, peels it back, finds nothing._

"Skin," he replied. Simply put, yes, but the word was thick in his throat and the sound of it sent a shot of heat down into her belly. He could hear her groan quietly in his ear. The hum of it had him hardening. It amazed him how such a simple sound from her could evoke from him such a bodily reaction.

They'd done this many times before, though never through the communications channel. It was always muddied by another person. Considering that most of the time this person was Garrus, he felt it was better off left for the comfort of the Normandy on nights when Shepard was too busy with the onslaught of Council business to deal with him properly. Perhaps the memories of those times drove him to react. Or perhaps it was just _her_.

"There are a dozen desks in here," she said as she stood, turning her eyes from the terminal. Watching the seconds click by as the information was transferred would ruin the mood. She had to walk around, to keep the blood flowing. "If you weren't down there, I'd already have you on top of one of them."

Thane narrowed his eyes, index squeezing the trigger of his rifle. The merc entering the hallway dropped to the ground, dark blue splattering the wall behind him. Shepard hardly winced at the sound of the blast in her ear. No, she was too focused on hearing what Thane would say.

"I believe I would have you there first." There was a pull in the center of her chest as she leaned a hip against the desk in the center of the room. As a woman who often stepped into a position of power, she enjoyed those brief moments of surrender she often found with him. "Your armor would be quickly discarded. I would kiss you along your thighs, slowly at first. Tasting your skin, your sweat." His eyes were only half-focused as Jack's body lit with blue, tossing an approaching merc like a doll. "I love your flavor on my tongue, feeling your skin move, your muscles twitch."

Shepard gulped, pulling in vain at the throat of her armor.

_Fuck, I forgot how good he was at this._

However, she wouldn't be bested by her lover; not today, not ever. He was already better with a sniper rifle. He wasn't going to be better at comm sex, too.

"As much as I enjoy your undivided attention, we're still in a merc base," she reminded him, turning around and leaning against the desk. Her voice was so maddeningly quiet, Thane found himself thanking every god and goddess he could for keeping more mercs from closing in. "I'd undress you quickly, biting and sucking at your throat while I did it. I'm desperate. You can tell. I_need_ you inside of me, Thane."

She could hear him breathing, shifting where he was, offering her nothing else but a quiet sigh of undetectable origin.

Thane ran his hand along the inside of his thigh, slowly trailing upwards before coming to rest between his knees. He could feel the warmth of arousal emanating throughout his entire body as clearly as he could feel his erection beneath his palm. "I am ready for you, siha," he growled in response, his voice breathy as it soaked over her skin.

Screw trying to beat him. This wasn't a contest. She needed to hear it. Her fingers went to her mouth, index slipping between her lips. "Tell me more." Her words came out as more than a request. They were filled with heat; a demand.

"I'd lay you back onto the desk." Turning around at another of Jack's shouts, he aimed his rifle at one of the mercs as the man ducked behind cover. One shuddering heartbeat, two. The sound of the gun, the kickback; everything was amplified. He could feel the tremors running down his chest and into his groin. "I part your thighs to taste you once more, ravishing you with my tongue." He was driving _himself_ mad with want, fingers digging into his thigh to keep from stroking himself. "Then I press forward, sliding myself into you and hold you in my arms, my lips on yours. What do you taste like?"

Shepard bit down on her fingernail, a flush spreading from her cheeks, down her throat, pooling along her chest. This heat, however, simmered in comparison to the one flickering between her thighs. "I taste like your tongue and my own sex," she near-growled, eyes fluttering shut as she drifted forward. Her hips hit the edge of the desk, applying the faintest bit of pressure.

"God, Thane." Her voice was hardly more than a hiss. She hadn't expected it to turn this way. Not in the middle of the mission. She was probably endangering his life as well as Jack's. But she just couldn't _stop_, not with him breathing heavily in her ear, bringing forth recent memories so vivid she could feel him between her thighs, his hands on her skin, lips on her mouth. "I need you -- I need you to tell me how much you want this."

"There is nothing in this world or the next that I want more."

His reply, while sweet in meaning, was ushered forth in that same silky voice that drove her hips forward, pressing her armor even harder against the desk in hopes of some alleviating friction. His voice was like velvet - warm and tender one moment; deliciously textured and hot the next. Ever since the moment she'd first heard him speak, she'd been enamored with every word that parted from his lips.

Hearing his voice quake beneath his own desire, a desire she herself shared and brought forth within him, was almost blinding in the emotion it brought forth.

"I love feeling you all around me," he continued, none the wiser of Shepard's slow descent into madness, yet eager to add to it. "Your heat is like nothing I've ever felt. Each time we are together, with each stroke and each cry of my name from your mouth, I fall more in love with you."

Behind her, Shepard heard the terminal give a quiet bleep.

"That's all of them."

Thane turned and glanced over his shoulders to see Jack approaching. For a split second, something resembling fear gripped him. It was quickly pushed away, however, and he stood, collecting himself with all the grace he could muster. With his sniper rifle strapped to his back, he pulled his jacket closer around himself. "Shepard, we will meet you at the rendezvous point."

How he could so quickly recover was unknown to her. When she replied, the words still caught in her throat, as breathy as before. "Affirmative. ETA five minutes."

At that, she straightened herself out, turning away from the desk and heading in the direction of the terminal. _Alright,_ she mused, /iGrab the OSD. Get the hell out. Get that bastard in your room as soon as you step foot on the Normandy. Right./i Slipping the disk out of the terminal, she slipped it into the small compartment high on her arm. She wouldn't meet any resistance on the way out, having dealt with a little less than half of them herself. Thane and Jack took care of the rest. She hoped. She wasn't in the position to keep shooting.

There was silence on his side. No heavy breathing, no whispered continuations. This wasn't going to fly. Not with Shepard. As quickly as she'd given up the fight in order to listen to him tell her all the things he wanted to do with her, she would resume it just as quickly.

"Hey, uh, Thane," she murmured as she left the lab and began her trek towards the shuttle. "You know, I have a few ideas of my own."

"Now… is not the time, siha." He thought he'd lowered his voice enough to keep Jack from overhearing. She was a few feet ahead of him, her strides far more determined than his. Still, she shot him a look over her shoulder. Either she was unimpressed or angry at him for being so distracted while there were still mercs alive and running around.

Shepard chuckled, swerving around a crate as she continued her leisurely stroll towards her destination. "I believe now is the perfect time for me to share my ideas," she was quick to reply. "Especially considering where I wish they could take place." His only response was a quiet sound. Was he intrigued? Or was he still trying to get her to be quiet? Taking it as the former rather than the latter, she continued.

"That shuttle gets _really_ bumpy sometimes." Dread crept into his belly. He knew where this was going even before she said another word. By now, his erection was almost painful, and he did his best to keep up with Jack instead of ebbing to his sudden wish to wait around for Shepard. Or just stay planetside in order to save himself from the embarrassment of sitting in the shuttle with the biotic and a smug-looking commander.

Stepping into the elevator leading down to the first floor, Shepard continued. "I'd sit you down in one of those seats and straddle you. Clothes on." She leaned against the cool metallic wall of the elevator, pressing the crown of her head against it as she shut her eyes. "Each bump would force me to grind against you harder; faster. I want to do that. I want to ride you until you come."

Thane could only muster a quiet rumble of pleasure, one thankfully quiet enough to keep out of Jack's ears. His stride staggered a little, painful hesitance tensing almost every muscle in his body. He needed release almost as much as he needed her.

Soon.

_Now._

When Shepard finally strolled up to the shuttle, the blush had mostly subsided. It was too dark outside the base for anyone to really notice for which she was thankful. She met the two of them with a smile. "Good job, you two." Her voice was cheery, having had a long moment or five to clear her throat, and she could see a vague hint of shock in Thane's expression.

_Two can play at that game, my good man._

He was always the effortlessly calm one. He never stepped out of line, never got flustered or embarrassed. It drove her insane in more ways than one, especially considering her penchant for relaxed men. But now? Now it was time for him to get a hint of what it was always like for her, that sharp awkwardness that settled over her when he ran his fingers through her hair when no one else was watching or stood too close when rounding a corner.

"Into the shuttle," she ordered, watching as Jack climbed into it without the slightest bit of hesitation. Shepard turned her eyes on Thane with a wicked lopsided smile. "You, too."

Her eyes burned into his back, lapping up every movement he made. Even here, climbing into a poorly lit shuttle on a planet shrouded in darkness, she knew each part of him as if she could see it just before her eyes. From his shoulders to his waist, hands, thighs, throat. Everything. And she wanted it all.

Clearing her throat, Shepard jumped up into the shuttle and banged a fist as the doors hissed shut. Part of her felt evil for making Thane sit beside Jack after snagging the single seat on the opposite side. The other part of her didn't feel sorry for him at all. That one lit her eyes in teasing, though she quickly looked away from the man to keep Jack from questioning her.

The ride back to the Normandy was a quiet one. Thane didn't often make it a point to talk after a mission, and Jack was too busy grumbling over her shotgun to bother talking. Evidently the weapon had taken a few shots from the mercs and would need repairs.

So instead of enhancing the uncomfortable air that seemed to shift around the drell, Shepard kept her lips sealed and her eyes out of the shuttle's window.

When the shuttle set down in the hull of the Normandy, Jack was the first one out of it, leaving the two of them sitting there. Alone. For a moment, Shepard contemplated making good on her own fantasies, but stopped herself when she saw Thane move out of the corner of her eye. She stood quickly, bridging the gap between them before he was able to step down.

He turned his eyes to her when he felt her hold out a hand to stop him. "Yes?"

She didn't immediately reply. Instead, her palm rested against his stomach, fingers curling outwards. Her eyes focused on his, and her lips curled just slightly as she saw his drift closed the moment her hand began to move downwards. The feeling of him beneath her palm conjured forth a quiet groan of appreciation from her lips.

"I want you in my cabin," Shepard whispered, her lips hovering over the silken red folds on his throat. "Do you hear me?"

A quiet "mmm" was all the response she needed, though she willingly accepted his hands on the small of her back, his lips working against hers. His tongue hit hers with a steady strength, and she replied in kind, her own searching the warm insides of his mouth. Even through her armor, she felt him shudder.

Thankfully no one was in the hull to see Shepard nearly trip over herself on the way to the elevator. She was too anxious to get to her cabin to worry about things like grace and poise. In truth, he could've made her wait for an hour or three or even longer, and she'd still have welcomed him without a single word. Shepard hoped that that would not be the case.

As she found, it was _not_ the case. Mere minutes after she'd wrestled herself out of her armor, she heard the door to the cabin hissing open, revealing an already half-naked Thane. His jacket and vest were folded neatly over his arm, though he cast them aside without a single thought the moment he saw her standing there in her underwear. The regulation top was discarded, leaving her in the boxer shorts and a deep purple bra - just as she'd told him.

"You were not teasing," he murmured, voice torn between disbelief and awe. No matter how many times he saw her standing before him, each time she rendered him void of all thoughts, all except one quickly quenched.

"I have no reason to tease you."

He moved forward soundlessly, and she found herself swept up in his arms before she had enough time to catch up with him. The heels of her feet lifted from the ground as he hefted some of her weight upwards, arms curled tightly around her waist. She gave a quiet groan as his mouth slid across her neck; hot and slick as his tongue parted from his lips to press hurried circles into her salty skin.

She could hear a memory of his words echoing in her ears. _Tasting your skin, your sweat._ The balls of her feet almost ached as she pressed her weight against them, pushing Thane closer to the bed. They were so close. She could see it over his shoulder when she had half the mind to look. So close it was almost frustrating.

Vibrations ran over her throat as he murmured something she didn't fully understand. A request to repeat it caught in her throat as her hands settled on the very center of his chest, pushing him backwards onto the bed. He bounced on the mattress, recovering quickly to stare up at her with every bit the wonder he'd viewed her with the first time he'd seen her like this.

Her hands went to the zip of his pants with the intentions of taking them off, only to be intercepted at the last moment by a hand on each side of her face. Glancing up at him, eyes wide with question, he merely shook his head. She was unwilling to let go of the zipper, but she did so when he attempted to guide her forward. Her mouth met his in a slow tangle, hands instead smoothing over his shoulders, massaging the smooth, irridescent scales, the thick black stripes. He groaned between her lips, his own fingers searching, teasing the clasps of her bra.

But he didn't release them. Instead, Thane pulled his mouth away from hers, his chest rising and falling with each labored breath. Their eyes locked for a moment before he spoke.

Lacing her fingers between his, he lifted her hand to his mouth, placing a kiss on her palm. "We should continue what we were doing earlier."

Shepard's brow nearly hit her hairline.

"But... is that even... possible? We're not using the comms anymore."

She shut her eyes when she felt another rumbling against her skin.

"It is entirely possible."

"Alright," Shepard began, "I'm intrigued." Desperate, horny, and almost naked, but intrigued. She found the spot beside him where she often slept, right in the crook of his arm, and settled in. He curled it around her without a second thought, pressing his lips against her cheek in another instinctive gesture. "So how does this work? What are the rules?"

He goaded her into a seated position, and she watched him with intense curiosity as he began slipping her pillows out of their pillow cases. "Thane?" He looked at her as he tossed the first pillow aside, his eyebrow ridge quirking in curiosity. "What are you doing?"

Her question was all but answered when his hand went for her wrist. Before she knew it, he'd strapped one of her wrists to the headboard, the pillowcase softer than handcuffs, but secured tightly.

"_You're handcuffing me_?" Shepard asked, very nearly flabberghasted.

"No, siha," he replied as he moved across her lap to grab her other wrist. "That would be impossible. I have no handcuffs."

Shepard blew a raspberry at him, and he chuckled. His hands were nimble as well as gentle as he went about his task, sliding the white pillowcase around her wrist before binding it to the headboard. "There is a reason why I am doing this," he explained, his head dropping as he kissed along the inside of her forearm, trailing slowly inwards in between words. "If I felt your hands on me, I would not be able to concentrate."

"So you handcuff --" He gave her a look. "You _pillowcase_ me to the bed. To keep me from touching you." She shivered as he passed his tongue along the inside of her elbow. "And what about you? Do you **want** to drive me insane?"

The look in his black eyes gave her all the answers she needed. Of course he wanted to drive her crazy. He wanted to fill her up from top to bottom with desire, knowing full well what would happen the moment he released her from her bindings. The night after they returned from the Omega 4 Relay came to mind. "It is a risk I will have to take," he murmured against her collarbone.

"I really hate you sometimes," she murmured, though the quiet hiccup of a moan that followed spoke volumes to the contrary.

"I do not believe you," Thane whispered, his voice dipping below its normal pitch. She could feel it hum against her skin, and she pulled her shoulders up to move as close to the feeling as possible. But instead of staying there, he moved away. Damn tease. Not two seconds after the thought sprung up in her mind, she felt his hand slip beneath the hem of her panties, his fused fingers sending a shot of heat between her thighs. "If it was hate you felt, you would not be so ready for me."

Shepard bit back another moan, her wrists jerking at the pillowcase. She was torn between cursing and laughing and begging him to give up before he'd started. "Don't - mmnh - don't flatter yourself."

"You are flattering me enough as it is." She could feel each word against her chest, hear them reverberating through her person. A very small part of her did actually hate him right now, though it was more out of frustrated spite than actual anger. Her fingers ached, not from the restraints, but from the overwhelming desire to touch him. She wanted to feel his musculature beneath her palms, to press his hips into hers, to take off those damn pants.

Shepard gulped back another, louder response as she felt his fused fingers slide into her. He was always maddeningly careful. No matter how or where he touched her, he did so with sensitivity unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It simultaneously filled her with joy and frustration. "Do you like this?" he asked her as his other hand slipped behind her back. She could feel his palm pressed flush against her back, holding her up, pulling her closer. His strength astounded her sometimes, and she gave a quiet gasp of surprise when he lifted her right up off the bed, guiding her to rest across his thighs.

Nodding dumbly, she buried her mouth into the flesh of her arm.

"Tell me how much."

Her back arched involuntarily when she felt his fingers curl inside of her, the pad of his thumb massaging circles around her clit. He was moving too slow to get her anywhere, and as the pressure began to build, she felt like she'd have gotten more release by screaming at him. "Thane," she gasped, "For the love of G-God, stop _teasing_ me."

"You seemed anxious to play this little game a few hours ago," he reminded her. This comment peaked her desire to beat her head into the headboard.

"I can't take it anymore," she pleaded, "I just want you."

For a moment, he faltered. He could hear the desperation in her voice, and the look in her eyes was clear. She wasn't being coy. She wasn't just trying to get out of the restraints. She actually, physically needed him. The falter led to a long moment of silence between them. He didn't move, but neither did she. He couldn't believe he was actually considering giving up so easily. After sticking him in that situation with Jack - that extremely uncomfortable, embarrassing situation - she wanted him to just give up and pleasure her?

Truth be told, he would have liked to. His erection was painful in his pants, pulsing in a silent plea to be released from its leather trappings. But he knew how to keep his cool, how to continue on his task no matter what blocked his path.

Without so much as a word of warning, Thane continued his careful ministrations between his lover's thighs. She'd relaxed almost entirely during his stretch of contemplation, and the sudden recovered contact took her unaware. The shock intensified the pleasure, sending fire down her thighs before her reflexes kicked in and she pulled them upwards in one, swift movement.

He was taken similarly unaware, only turning to glance down at her legs just before her knee connected with his forehead. The impact was followed by an apologetic shriek and blackness.

When Thane came to, it felt like an eternity since Shepard knocked him out cold. There was a pain in his lower back from the position he'd slumped over into, and the hand tucked beneath Shepard's still as stone body went to massage the dull ache out of the muscles.

As he straightened himself back up, he looked to her to see her staring at him. Her lips were pursed, eyebrows knitted above her nose. He couldn't decide if that expression was an unhappy one or a concerned one. Then again, his thoughts were so cloudy, he hadn't even realized she was still strapped to the bed.

"Siha, I'm so sorry."

The fact that an apology was the first thing to pass his lips, not offense or a complaint, softened her features exponentially. He gathered himself up, rather clumsily attending to the first knot around her wrists. "How long... was I unconscious?" There was a sharp pain in the center of his forehead, but he ignored it as he bit down on his bottom lip and finished untying the knot. How long had she been sitting like this?

"About two minutes," she replied, letting her arm fall limply by her side. Before he was able to attempt the other binding, she dusted his hands away. "I'll get it." While she busided herself with the other knot, she could feel him settling down beside her. "I'm, uh, sorry about... kneeing you in the face."

It was a pathetic excuse for an apology, but she tried. After sitting there, unable to help him, for two minutes, she'd almost eaten herself alive.

"Perhaps that was not the best idea."

"Yeah, not that I didn't try to change your mind or anything."

Settling down into the crook of his arm, she curled a hand around the back of his neck, tilting his head downwards to press a careful kiss on his forehead. His breath was a dewy sigh against her throat. "We can give it a rest. For now." Resting her head on his shoulder, she watched her fingers as they walked down his abs to the hem of his pants. "But later..."

Thane groaned, shifting onto his side and dusting her hand away. "_Siha..._"

Shepard snorted and wrapped an arm around his waist, "Fine, fine."

Joker once said something about Thane being a great cuddler. Yeah, he'd been teasing at the time, unsure of how an assassin could have such a soft side, but damnit, if he wasn't right on the money for once.


End file.
